The onslaught of digital disruption is making it harder than ever for the broker community to remain relevant, according to one business leader.

Gurnaik Tiyur, director of Guard Insurance Brokers and co-founder of education app CPD Anytime, said that the move to online or app-based insurance presents brokers with a challenge.

“There is going to be a lot of digital disruption and commoditisation of insurance so how do we stay relevant? That is the challenge,” Tiyur told Insurance Business.

“The way to stay relevant is to keep up the training because you need to become a trusted advisor. That is my mantra, clients have got to see you as more than just someone you go and buy insurance from.”

Having joined the broking community from a career in financial planning, Tiyur said it was the lure of opportunity, alongside the size and complexity of the industry, which originally took his interest.

“We saw an opportunity to use our skillsets that we learned in the financial planning area and apply it to general insurance. That is how we then created an insurance brokerage and became an AR,” Tiyur said.

Within two years, Tiyur knew he had made the right decision to join the industry and noted that his career has been “constantly challenging, constantly learning but very enjoyable.”

As a disruptor himself in the education space, Tiyur offers an interesting angle on the digital issues impacting the industry. He believes that firms like Lemonade, which is currently on the march in the US, alongside the moves by direct insurers, show that brokers need to do more for their clients – and an understanding of wider client concerns and economic issues is key in brokers becoming trusted advisors.

“We’ve got to constantly evolve into that trusted advisor, because with that basic insurance policy, if you are just relying on that then digital disruption will take you out of the industry,” Tiyur said.


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